An elephant that attacked and killed nine people has been captured and sent off to undergo rehabilitation.
The 40-year-old male elephant has attacked and trampled villagers for three years, leaving them terrified whenever it roams nearby.
But the bull was finally captured after it was spotted grazing next to a river.
Forest officials arrived shortly afterwards with four tame elephants from a nearby sanctuary to round him up.
The vets rode the trained animals to track the massive beast and herd it to a safe area before it was sedated with tranquilizer darts and loaded into a truck with a JCB.
The animal, captured near Attapadi Hills, in Palakkad district of Kerala, India, was taken to the Kodanad Elephant Training Centre for rehabilitation.
Dr Arun Zachariah, a wildlife veterinary expert who helped, said: “The operation started at 3a.m., when the first tranquilizer dart was fired around 7a.m. and we were able to place the killer animal in the truck by 9a.m.”
Colleague Dr Shaji, also part of the operation, added: “The forest department decided to tranquilize and transport it to Kodanad Elephant Training Centre.”
The animal had been wreaking havoc among the 150 tribal dwellers of the Attappadi Reserve Forest, a protected area spread across 249 square km.
It first killed a farmer in April 2014, and this year trampled a woman in March and another man in April.
Forest officials said the elephant had killed nine people in total, and injured two others, before it was captured on Tuesday this week.
It was caught with the help of four kumki trained elephants from two nature reserves, and two darts.
